The duo have been linked with summer transfers to the City Ground, with Stokes’s move reported by Goal, and Rhodes being linked as per the Daily Mail.

Forest are really pushing to win promotion to the Premier League, and the need to strengthen their first-team became evident this season with their form starting to stutter when some key figures were missing.

Both Rhodes and Stokes would be great signings for the Championship side, with Stokes possessing a great goal threat, and Rhodes a proven prolific scorer at this level.

However, the reported interest overlooks the massive problem that Forest will face with signing any player this summer - let alone two who would cost so dearly.

Rhodes and Stokes both have long-term contracts at their respective clubs, and would require huge transfer fees that Forest simply cannot part with in their FFP restricted state.

The transfer embargo placed upon them is not a real embargo, as the club are allowed to sign players as long as they can prove that they are reducing the wage bill in the process.

But signing Rhodes or Stokes would not just cost through the roof, but would be impossible to fulfil with their current high wage packets.

Rhodes especially would be impossible to bring in, with him likely keen to at least match his £45,000-a-week wages he receives at Blackburn, as per the Hull Daily Mail.

Forest’s desire to win promotion to the top flight will likely have to be put on hold as they rebuild their squad in the face of FFP. It is not expensive English players that the club should be looking to sign, but younger, lower league stars ready to make the jump up a division for cheap.

Without following that transfer policy, it is hard to see when Dougie Freedman’s men will break free of the shackles of Financial Fair Play.

Billy Hawkins

Billy is a freelance writer who contributes to various sites concerning football. Known to possess an obsession with statistics, Eastern European club sides, and Victorian football, he focuses upon the untapped potential of the Football League in the belief it is more enjoyable than the Premier League.